Joint Services Unit Comes To Navy's Aid

Group Assumes New Building Lease

October 18, 1994|By WILLIAM H. MCMICHAEL Daily Press

SUFFOLK — The Navy officially breathed a sigh of relief Monday after a joint services command took over a troublesome $76.5 million debt.

The debt was the Navy's 15-year obligation on a brand-new, custom-made building near the intersection of Interstate 664 and Route 17 created specifically for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. When the Navy decided in 1993 to recommend moving the undersea warfare operation to Newport, R.I., and the defense base closing committee agreed, the Navy was stuck with the lease on a building it no longer needed.

To the rescue came Atlantic Command, a joint services command which on Monday officially assumed the 15-year obligation to lease the building for a new training simulation center.

Navy Capt. Jim Sherlock, the new center's program director, said the center will create and rehearse electronic battle scenarios for units that fall under Atlantic Command, which controls about 80 percent of all U.S. forces.

He said the high-tech building is tailor-made for their complex computerized operation.

Officials say that after an initial outlay of $40 million, the one-of-a-kind Joint Training, Analysis and Simulation Center, along with the complementary Joint Warfighting Center at Fort Monroe and the Navy and Air Force doctrine centers in Norfolk and Hampton, will solidify Hampton Roads' status as the focal point for multi-service U.S. military operations.

"It positions this area to be the center of joint activities," said Adm. Paul D. Miller, head of Norfolk's Atlantic Command. "It truly opens a new future for the military and for the community."

The Suffolk center is linked electronically with Fort Monroe, which performs a similar training function for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

Until Atlantic Command decided to move into the custom-built facility that anchors Suffolk's Harbor View development, the Navy was liable to pay the General Services Administration what John Peters of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command said totalled $5.1 million a year over the next 15 years.

About 350 employees remain from the Undersea Warfare Center, but they'll be gone in a year. After that, the center would have stood empty, frustrating Harbor View's developers. "We lost the lead on three subcontractors who approached us about space," said Robert T. Williams, executive vice president of Jorman Group. "All the inquiries dried up."

The center will be operational within a year, and within 18 months will be able to conduct three full-blown training exercises a year via an electronic linkup with commanders at far-flung U.S. bases, at a cost of roughly $35 million annually. The center will employ about 100 military personnel, 100 government civilians, and 200 contractors.